Monday, June 25, 2007

Brain Scan

A few weeks ago I went and got my brain scanned. It wad for a friend who does linguistic research at UCI. Here are the pictures from the scan. Look close at what they found.


(click for larger image)

While I was getting scanned in the fMRI it felt like I was slowly spinning around. I asked the guy who did the scan and he said that I was sensitive to the Magnetic Waves. He didn't mention it because not many people are sensitive to it. So yeah, I am basically Magneto. So watch out!

Wizards Ordinary Magic and Basic Aptitude Test (W.O.M.B.A.T.)

I am now a fully qualified wizard! How do I prove this you ask? Well why don't you take a peek at my credentials over there on that wall with my Grandfather clock with the overly specific clock-face information.





I am happy to have finaly finished the last leg of the W.O.M.B.A.T.'s. A little over a year ago, the first one sometime around April 6, 2006, J. K. Rowling occanily would put up on these "Wizarding Aptitude Tests" on her website. I had a lingering fear that I would miss one, because the door for these tests were quite literally only be open for a day or two at a time. If I missed one then my collection would not be complete. At first I was upset that all I got was able to get was an "Acceptable"., thinking that I really failed but this was a nice way to go about it. But suposedely that is not true because others have failed. After this last one I am happy to have gotten the "Acceptable". I am ready to move forward with my magical carrer.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

My name is Frankie Franco and I am an...

Today I was at Starbucks while waiting for some friends to go see Fantastic Four I did some doodling. I
tried to draw a Fairy, but a Bloodelf came out... I think I have a problem.



She is a warlock.

Friday, June 15, 2007

Wicked

I am going to go see Wicked for the second time tomorrow!



I am looking forward to it.

Monday, June 11, 2007

The Lady



Right now I am finally finishing Perelandra, By C. S. Lewis. The second book in his Space Trilogy. I stated it last year but got distracted and never finished it. And if I put a book down it is very hard for me to pick it back up... I dunno why. I actually hate that about myself. What is frustrating and kinda funny is that I stopped reading it right before it got really meaty. It predominately a story of temptation to do something you know is against the will of God, or Maledi as He is referred to in the book. It's very much like The Screwtape Letters, and that is my all time favorite book. So I can't wait to finish this puppy.

Ransom, one of the protagonists in the story, is in a monologue where he is discussing temptation and its function and purpose it can have. There some lines that spoke wonders to me and is still echoing around in my head. It's something that I already knew but i guess I just didn't quite understand.

"If the Lady were to be kept in obedience only by the forcible removal of the Tempter, what was the use of that? What would it prove? And if the temptation were not a proving or testing, why was it allowed to happen at all?"

I needed to hear that like nothing else. When I think about temptation and the Lords hand in it, or lack there of, it is comforting, scary, challenging, and frustrating all at the same time. I already knew that the Lord allows us to be tempted and tested, but those few sentences somehow acted as a prism. They broke down the light/reality of it, and now I can see all the different colors/truths of this dynamic relationship we have with temptation. And the role it has in the Lords refining process for us. The Lord will take the bad things in our life and use it for His glory. Remember what Romans 8:28 says, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [His] purpose." Now I wont be so foolish as to ask that temptation be removed from my life and walk, but be encouraged to be in word and prayer and be ready for it. That I might be proven.

And now a nice segway into art...

I am trying to draw The Green Lady. She is supposed to be beautiful, have confidence, but also innocent and "naive". I am having difficulty finding that balance. But it is a lot of fun trying!


Sunday, June 10, 2007

Friday, June 08, 2007

Interruptions

Around 1:00pm today I got on my bike to ride to a local Starbucks for iced tea and to work on some illustrations. I needed to get out of the house, living by yourself and working freelance can get to you after a while. Any who while on route to Starbucks I decided to take the long way through BIOLA. It was a beautiful day and I wanted to enjoy it! I rode through BIOLA, looked at some buildings I had never seen, cut through some parking lots, then decide it was time to go. So I headed to the back of the campus. There is a walk way/running path/horse trail I decide to take. But little did I know that a small hill and a sharp turn would be my down fall. And the sad thing is that I wasn't even going that fast. My brain told my feet to slow down, because we didn't want fall, but the lack of motion is what made me fall bike-and-foot first into a river of dirty sewage water. There was slime on my handle bars, the seat was wet, and best of all my right foot was submerged in it rainbow sandals and all. I was upset and even considered going home and just driving to Starbucks. But I didn't want to so I sat down to let my foot and bike dry off. And what could have been the worst part of my day quickly became a welcome blessing. I took this extra time to lay down and read my Bible, pray for a while, and admire the beautiful day God gave to us.

All this to say that some interruptions end up being blessings.



(I did go to Starbucks and get my passion unsweetened iced Tea. And I did draw, just not what I had planned to.I drew and inked this comic there, and then I came home. It was a good day all together, except for the sewage water on my foot... but hey maybe it was radioactive and ill wake up with a superpower! That would be cool!!)

Monday, June 04, 2007

Wizard Rock ROCKS!!!






On Saturday I went down to the Anaheim City Library to see some fellow Harry Potter Nerds perform some music.
I had a lot of fun! I couldn’t stay for too long, but what I saw I really enjoyed. Especially the song performed by "Sue and the Hufflepuffs" and Bobby from "The DA". But to my utter dismay I had to take off before “Alex and the Remus Lupin’s” went on. My apologies Alex... I know I missed the highlight of the show. But I will be seeing you on the road this summer sometime I am sure of it.

Saturday, June 02, 2007

The Cutis's go to Azeroth

I did me some more TCG covers for my friends Matt and Amy.
They paid me in ultra cool Paladin cards and even some cool armor.


Amy the Nightelf Druid

Amy the Human Mage

Matt the Orc Shaman


In my opinion I got the better end of the deal.
But who am i to complain? :P